Content creation has been one of the thriving careers in the past few years.
According to the latest report, there were approximately 50 million content creators in the world.
The economy where content creators share various content with their audiences and generate revenue is known as the creator economy.
Content creators on different social media platforms are the most popular in the creator economy.
Aside from them, businesses and marketers also shared significance in this kind of economy.
The study shows that 62% of marketers work with creators to generate more engagement, 53% want to strengthen their social community, and 42% want to drive revenue.
Creator Economy Statistics in 2025
Content creation is one of the best ways to help people discover a specific brand and business. Appealing content brings more audience to a website.
Content can be in form of videos, photos, blogs, and infographics.
According to the latest data, the creator economy market size is worth roughly $104.2 billion.
Among 50 million content creators in the creator economy worldwide, 46.7 million were considered amateurs, while around 2 million were professionals.
30 million amateur creators post their content on Instagram, while 12 million amateurs publish on YouTube, 2.7 million stream on Twitch, and 2 million post on other platforms.
Out of 2 million professional creators, 1 million publish their videos on YouTube, 500,000 professionals share on Instagram, 300,000 stream on Twitch, and 200,000 post on other platforms.
Based on a survey, more than two in ten internet users in the United States created video content and upload them on different social media platforms.
53% of these creators aged 18 to 34 created videos for the internet, 31% aged 35 to 54 did the same thing, and only 5% were aged 55 and above.
The average creator in this country generates $57,234 annually.
Most Common Types of Content Creators
Based on statistics, 61% of creators publish content for entertainment, 34% were passionate about what they post, and 31% explore a new hobby.
In a survey conducted by ConvertKit, of more than 2,700 creators, almost 50% are full-time creators, 42.7% are part-time creators, and 10.6% are hobbyists.
Here are the 10 most common types of content creators according to the ConvertKit survey:
- Educator
- Blogger
- Coach
- Writer
- Artist
- Designer
- Marketer
- Author
- YouTuber
- Podcaster
No Overnight Success in Creator Economy
Most creators in the creator economy experienced a marathon-like journey in building their audience.
It was not an overnight success. 67% of full-time content creators started building their audience over 3 years ago.
Let’s take a look at how long full-time content creators started building their audience:
- 11% of full-time content creators started building their audience less than a year ago
- 18% of full-time content creators started building their audience 1 to 2 years ago
- 22% of full-time content creators started building their audience 3 to 5 years ago
- 19% of full-time content creators started building their audience 6 to 10 years ago
- 27% of full-time content creators started building their audience more than 10 years ago
Let’s take a look at how long part-time content creators started building their audience:
- 17% of part-time content creators started building their audience less than a year ago
- 27% of part-time content creators started building their audience 1 to 2 years ago
- 22% of part-time content creators started building their audience 3 to 5 years ago
- 13% of part-time content creators started building their audience 6 to 10 years ago
- 14% of part-time content creators started building their audience more than 10 years ago
Let’s take a look at how long “hobbyists” content creators started building their audience:
- 26% of hobbyists content creators started building their audience less than a year ago
- 24% of hobbyists content creators started building their audience 1 to 2 years ago
- 15% of hobbyists content creators started building their audience 3 to 5 years ago
- 8% of hobbyists content creators started building their audience 6 to 10 years ago
- 8% of hobbyists content creators started building their audience more than 10 years ago
How Long Do Content Creators Spend on Creating a Content?
In 2021, nearly 30% of full-time content creators spent 40 hours every week planning, recording, editing, and posting content.
Almost 25% worked on their content between 30 to 40 hours weekly, 20% worked between 20 to 30 hours weekly, and below 10% spent less than 20 hours weekly.
What Percentage of Creators Make through Content Creation
Content creation is more complex than other people think it was.
According to a survey, average content creators earn their first dollar after their six-and-a-half-month content creation journey.
A YouTube content creator with approximately 20,000 views daily and a 50% click-through rate earns only a little over the poverty line in the United States of $12,880.
Let’s find out below what percentage of creators make through content creation based on the Influencer Marketing Hub report:
- 26% of content creators make less than $1,000 per year
- 26% of content creators make at least $1,000 to $10,000 per year
- 27% of content creators make at least $10,000 to $50,000 per year
- 11% of content creators make at least $50,000 to $100,000 per year
- 7% of content creators make at least $100,000 to $500,000 per year
- 3% of content creators make at least $500,000 or more per year
Top-Earning Creators
According to the latest report of Forbes, the top creator in the creator economy is Jimmy Donaldson, commonly known as MrBeast.
He gains 162 million total followers and generated $54 million in income in 2021.
Here are the top-earning creators in 2021:
- Jimmy Donaldson – gains 162 million total followers and earns approximately $54 million in 2021
- Jake Paul – gains 57.3 million total followers and earns approximately $45 million in 2021
- Mark Edward Fischbach – gains 49.5 million total followers and earns approximately $38 million in 2021
- Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal – gain 11.8 million total followers and earn approximately $30 million in 2021
- Elliot Tebele – gains 20.1 million total followers and earns approximately $30 million in 2021
- Alexandra Cooper – gains 3.6 million total followers and earns approximately $20 million in 2021
- Charli D’Amelio – gains 203.7 million total followers and earns approximately $17.5 million in 2021
- Huda Kattan – gains 63 million total followers and earns approximately $13 million in 2021
- Emma Chamberlain – gains 27.6 million total followers and earns approximately $12 million in 2021
- Khaby Lame – gains 231.4 million total followers and earns approximately $10 million in 2021
- Addison Rae Easterling – gains 133 million total followers and earns approximately $8.5 million in 2021
Here are the top-earning YouTube accounts in 2021:
- MrBeast – generated $54 million in 2021
- Jake Paul – generated $45 million in 2021
- Markiplier – generated $38 million in 2021
Here are the top-earning TikTok creators in 2021:
- Charli and Dexie D’Amelio – generated $17.5 million and $10 million in 2021
- Addison Rae – generated $8.5 million in 2021
- Bella Poarch – generated $5 million in 2021
Conclusions
Content creation sounds easy to do to generate more income, however, it’s not easy at all, especially when a creator starts from scratch, and has little knowledge about it.
Data shows that more than 35% of content creators in the creator economy built their audience for four years. 30% created content more than 40 hours weekly.
Only 10% of creators earn at least $100,000 or more annually.
According to a report, people expected an increase in ad revenue for content creators during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contrary to what they expected, ad revenue declined by 33% since many businesses and companies haltered their advertisement campaigns.
